Using the Library on your iPad

The faculty all received our iPads to start learning how to use them before the next school year. So far, I have sent out two emails about using the library on the iPad. I am thinking this will be a regular series from the librarians to the faculty and staff, and soon to the students. Next year I am hoping to do some in-person faculty training too, but for now, emails will have to suffice. We are heading into finals next week and everyone is very busy.
My first email highlighted using Gale's Access my Library App and the Britannica Online App which I just subscribed to for my school. Today's email is all about using ARTstor's mobile site and how I can help the teachers put together a collection for their students to use on their mobile devices. I wanted them to play with these databases over the summer to see how they can incorporate them in the fall.
I want the library's resources (including me, by the way!) to become more important, not less, when we go 1:1.

1:1 iPads at the Secondary School Library

Archipelago is undergoing a slight change of focus. The 9th - 12th grades at my school are going 1:1 with iPads in the fall, and today all the teachers got our new iPads, along with iTunes gift cards. I hope to reflect in Archipelago about how using iPads changes the library and our curriculum. Will it change what I teach, what I buy for the collection, and the overall culture in the library? Probably, but what exactly will be different? What will be challenging? What will be better?


My first concerns are:
What is the best Blogger app?
How to serve the middle school equally when it isn't a part of the program?
Will NoodleTools have an iPad app, and if not, will it matter?
Which ebook vendors should I start using?
What can I do this summer to prepare the library resources and curriculum for this new and exciting educational adventure?
Will I ever be able to make a LibGuide on the iPad?

I will blog all about it on the iPad, of course! Right now I am just blogging using Safari on the iPad. Seems basic, but O.K.

Evernote, iPads, and Veterans

Read about an exciting day in our library - a day of creating content and making connections.

Veterans and Juniors: Oral Histories in the Library « InfoEagles via kwout

NoodleTools - in the Parent Newsletter

I am trying to make our library more visible by writing semi-regularly for the school's K-12 online newsletter, which is sent out by email blast every Friday. I figure if parents read about the library maybe once per month, they might come to define the library as we do, as an active teaching and learning space enriched by collaboration, technology, and information in all formats, not just a warehouse of books.  This article I co-wrote with Yapha Mason, our Lower School Librarian, and it came out in today's newsletter, immediately after the lead story.

NoodleTools: It's Not About Pasta
by Elisabeth Abarbanel and Yapha Mason, Librarians

Changes in the research process in the past decade might make what your child is doing look foreign to you. For instance, almost every 3rd to 12th Grade research project has a NoodleTools element. What is NoodleTools, you ask? It is online software that supports all aspects of the research project, from organizing sources to note-taking to a final bibliography or works cited. The librarians have worked with the teachers to integrate this online tool to make the process collaborative and much easier than when we were all in school.
In the Lower Division, our students start to cite their sources using NoodleTools in 3rd Grade. They learn the basics of citation with one book from their ocean animal report. In 4th through 6th Grade they are expected to cite all of their sources, and they learn the different pieces of information needed when it is a book, encyclopedia, web site, interview, or even an iPad app. Ms. Mason works with the students on how valuable it is to keep track of the sources used, and the best ways to accomplish this. We teach the MLA format for citing at Brentwood School, preparing the Lower Division students for their research on the East Campus.


On the East Campus, all 7th graders receive an introduction to citing using NoodleTools. They can then start taking notes using the online notecard feature, which is required in 8th and 9th Grade. Imagine typing your notecards and storing them in “the cloud” where they can’t be lost or left at home by mistake, and are never too messy to read. Students invite their teachers to access their work cited lists and notecards, and the teachers can comment online to offer help and dialog about the process. When working on group projects, students can also collaborate with each other in NoodleTools.

As the research process gets more complex, students learn more and more citing and note-taking tips. Have you ever had to cite a YouTube video or a Tweet? Brentwood students graduate feeling confident they can cite any piece of information, regardless of the format. The students don’t have to worry about the particular punctuation or format of the work cited list (NoodleTools does it for you), and can use their time instead to think critically about the research. Already a scholar’s dream, NoodleTools is going through an update this summer and it should be even easier to keep track of sources and information in the fall.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact Elisabeth Abarbanel (East Campus) or Yapha Mason (West Campus) or look at our NoodleTools online help here: http://bwscampus.libguides.com/NoodleTools

Hanging Out about Connected Learning

Recently I was surprised and honored to be a part of this Google Hangout with some of my heroes, Mimi Ito and Howard Rheingold. It was my first time in a Hangout, as you can probably tell by watching it, but I learned a lot and it was a great experience for me. I hope to keep following, learning from,  and participating in Connected Learning events.

Watch live streaming video from connectedlearningtv at livestream.com

For more info about the Hangout,  and for upcoming events,  check out the Connected Learning site.

Love Notes

Late last night, I received the following email:

Hi Ms. Abarbanel,

I just finished The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. You gave it to me to read for DEAR Day...

I'm crying and I LOVE this book!! Just wanted to let you know...I couldn't wait until Tuesday to talk about it.

Literally indebted to you,


And there is the power combination of Drop Everything and Read, John Green, and individualized attention from a librarian.  I love approaching kids individually with a favorite book. The books I hand to kids one at a time tend to get checked out more often than booktalked books.  And they usually come back to tell me how they liked it.


I got this email about another John Green book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson:


I just wanted to let you know that I finished Will Grayson Will Grayson.  It was such a good book!!!  I was wondering if you could possibly recommend some other gay-themed books that I should read.  I would really appreciate it!!


I love when the kids send me love notes about the books that spoke to them. They are the most powerful feedback I get. Do you have any favorite notes from students about books? Share them here!

Just for Fun: Participatory Displays

Sometimes participatory culture grows through old methods. Inspired by librarian Michelle Fromme, who often refers  to her "chalk talks," I have started making extremely simple and easy monthly participatory displays in the library. In one of our entrances, I put up a piece of butcher paper with a question on it, then I put some markers out and wait for the responses. The students are enjoying the outlet, the participation, and reading the other responses. Even the admissions tours often stop and take a look.

We started with the basics. What is your favorite book?

Next we inquired about superhero powers, songs, and now we are in to February with What is your favorite love story/song/poem? We have also started putting similar displays, with sharpies, on a Middle School bulletin board which the library has recently taken over, so they can more easily join in the fun. 

In Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, Henry Jenkins defines participatory culture as one:



1.With relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement
2.With strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations with others
3.With some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is
passed along to novices 
4.Where members believe that their contributions matter
5.Where members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they
care what other people think about what they have created).
Not every member must contribute, but all must believe they are free to contribute when
ready and that what they contribute will be appropriately valued


So, maybe our little displays don't hit every one of those marks, but the introduction is there.
1. Anyone can participate
2. It is public, so it is shared, and we encourage creativity and interaction
3. Well..this one is a stretch.. but we are purposefully starting off with easy prompts this year, and I am hoping that as people get more comfortable with the public sharing, we can move on to deeper ideas and conversations on the displays.
4. Students see other students enjoying the boards
5. The students are having fun creating a type of collage of ideas and humor. They are connecting with what each other writes and sometimes building upon it.
And, we leave everyone's contributions up, and although not everyone participates, everyone knows they can.

I can't get the students to participate on the blog or the Facebook page, but on the display, people are engaged. I wonder why that is - maybe the anonymity? the ease? the joining in on something similar to public conversation? I like the participation, the ease, and the building of culture that is happening through these simple displays. I think the students are learning that we care about what matters to them.

Another type of participatory display came from our graduating seniors last year. One boy wanted to put up a display of his favorite books, then other seniors wanted to do it too. This year we have a senior in charge of the weekly Senior Displays, where a senior puts out 10 favorite books from their 7th-12th grade experience at our school. While a student's display is up, we take his/her picture with the most favorite book and make a READ bookmark. This is a nice memento of their library lives, and I know some of the kids really enjoy the experience.

We are always looking for ways students can participate in the library, and displays are just one aspect. Do you have students help with displays? How are their interestes told through displays?